CONTENT MCLAUGHLIN READY TO WALK AWAY
Scott Mclaughlin finished a somewhat quiet fifth in what may have been his final race as a Supercars full-timer.
The Kiwi arrived at Bathurst as the red-hot favourite to repeat his 2019 Mount Panorama win, with the 2020 title safely in his pocket and the rapid Tim Slade as his co-driver. There were flashes of speed in the build-up, too. But when Mclaughlin, the Shootout king, fell four tenths to the bad of Cam Waters in Saturday’s singlelap dash, it was clear that his wasn’t the fastest car in the race.
Starting from the outside of the front row, DJR Team Penske elected to put Mclaughlin in the Ford Mustang for the first stint. The decision was likely a side-effect of the pandemic, which had severely limited Slade’s test laps in the unfamiliar package over the year.
While it gave Mclaughlin the opportunity to lead the first stint, the call would come back to haunt the team during the lap 97 safety car period. While Garth Tander, Will Davison and Warren Luff had completed their minimum co-driver laps, Slade hadn’t. That meant he had to stay in the car for another stint, losing enough time to the primary drivers in the rival machines to rule Mclaughlin out of contention.
The big question now is when we’ll see Mclaughlin back in a Supercar. He’ll make his Indycar debut in St Petersburg this weekend, amid speculation of a full-time switch to the US series in 2021.He remained tight-lipped about his future when speaking post-bathurst, although did admit he’d checked all the boxes he wanted to in Supercars.
“I’ve done everything I wanted to achieve [in Supercars], regardless of how St Pete goes,” said Mclaughlin. “Right now, I’ve got to grab this [Indycar] opportunity with both hands. I’ve got to go out there and drive the thing as fast I can and acquit myself the best I can.
“I said I wanted to win a Bathurst, a championship and be a consistent frontrunner. I really wanted to try to move up that leaderboard with wins and poles, and I’m really proud of all that.
If it is [the end of my Supercars career], I’m completely satisfied.”